TOY Productions
Bud Yorkin Productions, Inc. Background: After Bud Yorkin ended his partnership with Norman Lear, he formed his own production company joining forces with writers and producers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein under the name of "Bud Yorkin Productions, Inc." in 1975. However, the series like What's Happening!! would have Yorkin's copyright stamp on the show. After Grady was canceled a year later, Yorkin, Turtletaub, and Orenstein established "TOY Productions". Yorkin however, was still involved with Tandem Productions as executive vice president. (April 25, 1975, December 4, 1975-August 26, 1976) Logo: Just an in-credit text saying: BUD YORKIN PRODUCTIONS, INC. with a copyright stamp below it. Variants: *On the second episode of What's Happening!!, "The Birthday Present", the text would read as "A BUD YORKIN PRODUCTION". *On Grady, the text reads as "A BUD YORKIN PRODUCTION, INC." FX/SFX: Just the scrolling of the credits. Music/Sounds: Just the end-title theme from any show. Availability: Very rare. Seen on the Sanford and Son season four finale, "The Family Man" (the pilot for Grady), Grady itself, and the What's Happening!! episode "The Birthday Present". _______________________________________________________________ TOY Productions Background: TOY Productions was a new production company formed by Turteltaub, Orenstein, and Yorkin (hence the initials of the company) in 1976 after Grady was canceled and Bud Yorkin Productions became an in-name-only division. On February 19, 1979, TOY Productions was acquired by Columbia Pictures Television (now "Sony Pictures Television") and was folded in 1982 after the cancellation of NBC's critically-panned sitcom One of the Boys, starring Mickey Rooney. (November 13, 1976-April 24, 1982) Logo: Originally, the company used an in-credit text saying: A T.-O.-Y. PRODUCTION with periods in between the letters "TOY". But in November 1976, it was changed to... A TOY PRODUCTION Variants: * On the S2 WH episode "Rerun Gets Married", a proper logo was used, consisting on a white ball with the word "TOY" in a cote-out with a text below saying "A TOY PRODUCTION" in one line. * Starting on the WH episode "It's All in Your Head", aired on September 29, 1977, with the stylized text "TOY" in it, the letters in the ball are colored in orange or brown, and the text "A TOY PRODUCTION" is seen below. * The rest of the episodes in mid-season two starting in November would say "TOY PRODUCTIONS" (referred again to as "A TOY PRODUCTION" during the 1978-79 season). The word "TOY" in the ball is now in white with a cote-out outline. * An animated variant exists on One of the Boys. Here, the "T" and "Y" letters slide from the left and right side of the ball respectively. The "O" pops in afterward, right before the company name zooms in from the bottom of the screen. FX/SFX: Just the scrolling up of the credits (except on 13 Queens Boulevard, whose closing credits cut into each other). For the TOY logo, it would fade in and out, appear in, or scroll. Music/Sounds: The closing theme of the show. Availability: Uncommon. Seen throughout all three seasons of What's Happening!! on DVD, TV One, and Xfinity Streampix On Demand except the second episode. It was also seen on the three short-lived series Carter Country, 13 Queens Boulevard, and One in a Million. The animated version was only used on One of the Boys, and the end credits haven't been seen in three and a half decades. Category:Columbia Pictures Category:Sony Pictures Television Category:Sony Pictures Entertainment Category:Sony Corporation